SOUTH BURLINGTON — "Thank you for voting," South Burlington resident Abby Crocker said to voters as they left the polls at Frederick H. Tuttle Middle School on Tuesday afternoon.

She held a sign encouraging residents to vote for incumbent Meaghan Emery and Tim Barritt. Barritt, the current chairman of the Development Review Board and a candidate for City Council, stood next to Crocker, introduced himself to residents who were headed into the school to vote and answered their questions.

The candidate Barritt was facing, incumbent council member Chris Shaw, joined the pair. He wore a red, white and blue scarf and a red hat, and held a sign urging city residents to mark the circle next to his name on the ballot.

"Do we get a red hat like yours if we vote for you?" a neighbor joked to Shaw on the way into the middle school.

South Burlington resident Jean Hunt wanted to know which candidates for City Council were the most anti-development. Barritt pointed to his sign.

Tuesday night, results would show that he upset Shaw for a three-year term on the City Council, 3,150 votes to 2,272. Voters also approved budget proposals for the schools and the city.

Emery defeated long-term Rotarian George Donovan for a two-year term on the council. She received 3,593 votes to Donovan's 1,956.

Hunt, a city resident of nearly 20 years, said she wants to see less pavement and more open space in South Burlington. She said she voted for Emery and Barritt with the hope that will become a reality. She pointed to the proposed future downtown area, City Center, as a problem for her. Hunt said she feels development such as that project often are not thought out.

"What do we need a downtown for?" she asked. "There's one down the street in Burlington."

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A sign in the Shelburne, Vt., Municipal Office points toward the town's polling station in the gym on Tuesday, March 1, 2016.(Photo: Aki Soga/Free Press)

Voters also approved a city budget of $40,210,370, an increase of 2.98 percent.

Property taxes are expected to rise by 1.37 cents per $100 of assessed property value. For the average single-family home valued at $366,000, homeowners will pay an additional $50 annually, Deputy City Manager Tom Hubbard has said.

The proposed budget does not fund a full appropriation to the City Center reserve fund for the future downtown. That is proposed to be funded in 2018, Hubbard said.

Voters also authorized the City Council to borrow $1.3 million over 10 years to fund projects in open space and natural areas the city owns. About half of the city's Conservation Fund tax levy will pay back the debt.

The South Burlington School District budget also was approved by voters Tuesday. The budget of $46,973,703, an increase of 2.68 percent over the current fiscal year, passed 4,070 to 1,748.

The increase in the budget leads to a potential tax decrease of 2.23 percent, Superintendent David Young has said.

The budget includes a $2.5 million bond to address safety and energy-efficiency issues, including window replacements at the high school, replacement of the turf field and a roof replacement.

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Ted Riehle, a South Burlington resident, stands in the parking lot of Frederick Tuttle Middle School dressed as a Storm Trooper to show his support for two City Council candidates Tuesday. Riehle said his wife serves on the council, and he had been out at the polling site since 7 a.m. when voting began.(Photo: LIZ MURRAY/ FREE PRESS)